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Shilsen's Eberron SH (Finished - The Last Word : 9/20/15)
- Thread starter Rackhir
- Start date
Sidekick
First Post
Heh - with you doing the stating I'd say rather deadly indeed.shilsen said:
Feel like emailing me those stats? I could sure use a group of NPCs to scare my group into respecting Boromar.
Don't get me wrong they respect them in a "ohh the political power and goons they can hire" way rather than a "Well F-me I ain't messing with those halfling thugs - even if they are only 3ft tall!!" kind of way.
hmm barbarian1/warblade7. That sounds cruchyliscious.
shilsen
Adventurer
Sidekick said:
So say my players. I was informed during the session by a couple of them that when they next need to make PCs, they're just going to say, "Can you send me what you used for [insert NPC here]?" and use them
I added them to the Rogues Gallery here. Have fun with them, and if you have any questions, throw them up on that thread and I'll try to answer.
It's now become established fact in my game that the shorter the enemy, the deadlier it is. And that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I'm 5 ft 4.
Yes, it was. It could have been worse than I made it, but the thing I like about Bo9S is that you can use maneuvers/stances to create any theme of warrior, and it feels wrong to just cherry-pick the maneuvers without them tying together somehow. I envisioned Halak as a ferocious fighter, focused on taking down larger (he's a halfling, after all) opponents with high damage moves, with a limited ability to inspire allies via his example.
GoodKingJayIII
First Post
All caught up now, so it makes sense to finally post. Definitely a fun read. I've got a few questions for you Shil, if you don't mind.
1. What would you have done differently if the PCs decided to become "permanent guardians" of the Key? (It would've made the group name even more appropriate). Seems they played right into the rakshasa's hands on that one; to be honest, with a paladin, two Gatekeepers, and someone who is intimately familiar with crazy, mind-warping world-shaping outsiders, I'm surprised they didn't even consider it.
2. Do you use a high point buy for NPCs to match your PCs, do you stick with elite array, or just assign stats arbitrarily? Same question for monsters?
3. A general question for both you, Shil, and the players: everyone seems content right now to offer services to various contacts throughout the city. Being the most powerful characters in Sharn, does anyone have Bigger Plans (tm)? Maybe Gareth wants a more powerful political position in the Church? Nameless looking for more respect from the Guild? Maybe Six will use his newfound citizenship and artistic clout to mingle with muckity-mucks and garner himself a powerful bureaucratic position? Basically, what are the PCs Big Plans? We don't hear about them as much as I'd like.
4. Not actually a question, but shil, if I ever get to play under you, it's a mercenary Valenar elf with secret nationalistic ties and plans to carve out a sizable chunk of Khorvaire for himself. Just thought you should know.
1. What would you have done differently if the PCs decided to become "permanent guardians" of the Key? (It would've made the group name even more appropriate). Seems they played right into the rakshasa's hands on that one; to be honest, with a paladin, two Gatekeepers, and someone who is intimately familiar with crazy, mind-warping world-shaping outsiders, I'm surprised they didn't even consider it.
2. Do you use a high point buy for NPCs to match your PCs, do you stick with elite array, or just assign stats arbitrarily? Same question for monsters?
3. A general question for both you, Shil, and the players: everyone seems content right now to offer services to various contacts throughout the city. Being the most powerful characters in Sharn, does anyone have Bigger Plans (tm)? Maybe Gareth wants a more powerful political position in the Church? Nameless looking for more respect from the Guild? Maybe Six will use his newfound citizenship and artistic clout to mingle with muckity-mucks and garner himself a powerful bureaucratic position? Basically, what are the PCs Big Plans? We don't hear about them as much as I'd like.
4. Not actually a question, but shil, if I ever get to play under you, it's a mercenary Valenar elf with secret nationalistic ties and plans to carve out a sizable chunk of Khorvaire for himself. Just thought you should know.
shilsen
Adventurer
GoodKingJayIII said:
Thanks. I'll have another instalment up today.
I've got a few questions for you Shil, if you don't mind.
Of course I mind! Haven't you noticed how shy and completely reticent I am when it comes to discussing my game?
In general, I would have just rolled with it. Right from the beginning of the campaign, I had decided - and told my players about it - that I was explicitly not going to design a campaign with a predetermined overarching plot. I was just going to throw a lot of things out there and see what the PCs decided to follow, and that's what the campaign would be about. I had some things in place beforehand based on the characters' backgrounds (esp. Gareth's possessed sword and the daelkyr influence in Nameless' head), but how and why those would emerge depended on the PCs' choices. The entire Key thing actually came up very abruptly, since the PCs suddenly decided to run off to Xen'drik just as I was seeing them getting nicely embroiled in Sharn politics.
So, more specifically, if the PCs had decided to become permanent guardians of the Key, Zathara would probably have stayed in the background and tried to use them to learn more about the Key before making his move. He'd have done so eventually, but it could have been after months or even years of game time. The reason he moved more quickly than he'd originally planned was because he was concerned what the Gatekeepers might do with it.
For the majority of NPCs, I just stick with the elite array, and the same goes for monsters (i.e. straight out of the MM if non-classed, or with elite array if classed). Instead of using the 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 set, however, I use the same 72 pts but divided up as I feel fit. For especially skilled NPCs, I will go with between 74-76 pts divided among the stats before racial modifiers. Only if the PCs are up against an exceptional enemy (the rakshasas, for example) do I use 78+ pts divided among the stats before racial modifiers.
The one thing I do to make the NPCs a little tougher is to usually assign a flat 75% of the random hp rather than actually rolling, e.g. an NPC with 6d8+18 hp would get 36 on the 6d8 automatically, so a total of 54 hp.
3. A general question for both you, Shil, and the players: everyone seems content right now to offer services to various contacts throughout the city. Being the most powerful characters in Sharn, does anyone have Bigger Plans (tm)? Maybe Gareth wants a more powerful political position in the Church? Nameless looking for more respect from the Guild? Maybe Six will use his newfound citizenship and artistic clout to mingle with muckity-mucks and garner himself a powerful bureaucratic position? Basically, what are the PCs Big Plans? We don't hear about them as much as I'd like.
The players can probably answer this one better than I can, but I think I can safely say that most of them don't really seem to have bigger plans right now. Luna and Korm are esp. so, being quite happy as long as they're getting a certain amount of action. Nameless, I think, is just interested in increasing his personal puissance till tentacles come out his head
Gareth has some interest in cleaning up the Sharn Deneith slowly, but isn't really that involved with them. Amusingly, Six is the one who has the most big plans in the sense you mean, though he's keeping it on the down low and has never really discussed them with others. He's simultaneously interested in finding out the real origins of the warforged and finding some sort of a warforged homeland, and possibly even restarting a creation forge. Yes, Six just might become the next Lord of Blades
4. Not actually a question, but shil, if I ever get to play under you, it's a mercenary Valenar elf with secret nationalistic ties and plans to carve out a sizable chunk of Khorvaire for himself. Just thought you should know.
Thanks for the warning
I love the Valenar and in general what Keith Baker did with the elves and their variant types of ancestor worship. Tell you what - if you ever drop by Philly, I'll let you NPC a militant (is there any other kind) Valenar elf and either hire or try to kill the PCs.
GoodKingJayIII said:
The problem with keeping the key was that it was clear we couldn't protect it (it was stolen twice). We couldn't leave it behind (we had to be within x miles of it every 24 hrs or so) making it a royal pain in the #$##@ on that score. Then nobody else in Sharn was powerful enough to make a good guardian for it (at least that Nameless was willing to trust with it). Finally, with the things we did and the places we went, it was too dangerous to risk it falling into the hands of the things we went up against, like it did when Nameless was captured by in Yakun'Dral. Which quite concievably could have been nearly as bad as what the Rakshasa's were up to.
Nameless in particular knew (though nobody else did) that a similar shard was at least partially responsible for the Day of Mourning, so he was loath to risk anything like that happening again if he could prevent it. The Gatekeepers seemed like our best options as they were the only people we knew who were actually more powerful than we were and whom we (or at least Nameless) could trust with something like that.
Also both Luna and Six have severe allergic reactions to anything that restricts them or imposes any responsibilities on them.
GoodKingJayIII said:3. A general question for both you, Shil, and the players: everyone seems content right now to offer services to various contacts throughout the city. Being the most powerful characters in Sharn, does anyone have Bigger Plans (tm)? Nameless looking for more respect from the Guild? Basically, what are the PCs Big Plans? We don't hear about them as much as I'd like.
Being the "most powerful characters in Sharn" in Shil's campaign isn't all it's cracked up to be. As we've had demonstrated twice recently, it gives us only at best a slight edge. The listing in the Rogue's Gallery thread for the halfling boomerang guys for example, doesn't really give you a good idea of how nasty they were in combat and how close they came to taking down Korm, Luna and Gareth, without them even getting a chance to act. The Casters have somewhat more of an edge since their level means that we can access higher level spells than almost of the other casters in the city.
Shil has it pretty much right at least with regards to Nameless. He has no Big Plans, past a desire to transcend (Ie, hit 10th in Alienist and become an outsider). Actually, he has one other ambition. To become powerful enough to safely walk the streets of Sharn. I'm currently estimating this will require him to make it well into Epic levels to pull that off though...
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GoodKingJayIII
First Post
shilsen said:
Funny you should say that. My long-time gf is from Newtown, PA and I'm looking at law school in the Philly area. Who knows, two-three years time you might find me knocking on your door!
Rackhir said:
Yup. I remember all that.
I just got the impression that becoming "permanent guardians" of the Key would have some added benefits, similar to the transcendence offered by the dying coatl. Maybe the Key would've shucked it's physical shackles and embedded itself into each of your souls. Or maybe you would've just had to lug it around for even longer. What do I know? Rackhir said:
Believe me, I can empathize. Back in a college campaign we hit 14th level, but our DM had a way of making us feel like we were 4th.
The comment about character power level aside, your PCs seem content offering their services and being hired for various jobs around the city. Not a criticism, just an observation. Judging from what I've read, the game seems very open-ended, which is always the kind of game I love to play in.
shilsen
Adventurer
GoodKingJayIII said:
I'll consider myself forewarned
Yup. I remember all that.
You know just about as much as me, actually. One way that I keep my degree of preparation under control is by just deciding upon things when I need to. Since the PCs never took up the permanent guardianship, I never bothered.
I think it's safe to say that when I can't keep challenging my PCs with theoretically much easier encounters is the day I quit DMing.
Same here. A lot of my DMing (which I actually had very little experience of before this campaign and the overlapping Eberron campaign I started running for another group about half a year before this one) is based on the kind of game I would enjoy being part of. And a seriously open-ended campaign is very high on the list.
Anyhow, enough talk, and on to the next instalment...
* * * * * *
Between sessions (handled via email/forums):
Despite being blind, Nameless is able to teleport the entire group (albeit with some of them having to give Jalus Baine’s corpse company in the portable hole) to the Cathedral, significantly scaring a couple of guards. The group is quickly ushered into a waiting area and soon brought to a meeting room, where Ythana Morr is waiting. Having been informed of Nameless’ condition, she has a scroll to remove blindness, which she uses on him, after thanking Deemin and dismissing him.
The Archierophant is exceedingly pleased at the recovery of Jalus Baine’s body, which she has four acolytes carefully remove to one of the private sanctums, and seems quite impressed at the group’s destruction of the undead horde, the unholy altar and the tree of woe. She is, however, just as puzzled by the sword, whose first introduction to her is when it pipes up and says, “So – you the big chick in this temple, right? Nice place you have here!”
Once she has heard the entire story, Ythana asks Gareth and the others to give her a few minutes with the sword. Those outside can hear the low mumbling of speech through the door. After a couple of minutes, there is the sound of her raised voice, saying, “You cannot speak to me li…,” but then it is lowered. The two voices get softer and after a couple of minutes, the door opens to reveal Ythana, her face looking slightly redder than normal. She invites the group back in and says to them all, “Thank you for the work you have done. The blessings of the Flame are on you, but then you already know that after your previous experiences in the Wastes.” Turning to Gareth, she adds, “I shall arrange for Jalus’ body to be laid to rest in the proper fashion.” She hesitates for only a second, and then says, “But you may keep the sword. If you wish.” The sword, now lying on the table, promptly says, “Yeah! You need to get me out o…,” and then falls silent at a glare from her.
Gareth replies, “It was an honor to serve the Flame, and I am always happy to help again. That area was a blight on the existence of all, and it felt good removing it. I think the only thing better would be to banish some evil entity from our realm of existence.” He picks up the Eternal Blade and sheathes it, asking, “Is there anything I need to know about him?”
Even before Ythana can reply, the sword says, “Hey! I am right here, you know!” The Archierophant says, “I know little about the Eternal …,” at which point the sword interrupts and says, “Endless!” She sighs and says, “…Endless Blade, and I gather he will be happy to tell you whatever you need to know.” Though it doesn’t move, Gareth gets the impression of the sword nodding and hears a soft, ”Damn right!” in his head.
The group departs, the sword commenting as they leave, “Now there’s a broad who seriously needs to get a greatsword in her scabbard, if you know what I’m saying!” As they are about to depart the Cathedral, the acolyte Golar stops them and says he has a message for Gareth. A bugbear stopped by asking for him, and left him a message. The message is scrawled, badly written, on a sheet of parchment, and says, “To paladin Gareth, and others of the Guardian Angels – I do request meet you at the Cracked Mirror inn [note: the inn that the group had visited shortly after reaching Sharn, where they met the shifter brothers] in Callestan. I will be there for three next days from 10 morning to noon. I will pay for your time. Dhurmhaac.” Golar says that he has never seen the bugbear before, but describes him as elderly and very muscular, dressed in laborers’ clothes. The description does not ring a bell for any of the Angels.
“Well, I do not know who this person is,” says Gareth, “But we should stop there later to see why I was summoned. It may be a quest worthy of us.”
The group heads back to the Gray House and, on the ride back, the sword reminds them three times that they need to get him to a library, comments four times on the skycoaches in particular and the changed look of Sharn in general, and asks Six a dozen questions about exactly what he is, especially regarding what he does for “pooping” and sex.
Back at the Gray House, Fett is waiting for the group. Before he settles down to hear about their adventures – and be roundly amused by the sword – he gives them a message that was delivered for them by a nondescript looking halfling. This message is hand-written too, but comes in a sealed envelope. It says, “To Gareth, the bastard Flamer: If you’ve got the balls to back up your words to my boss, come face me in the Burning Ring. Bring your buddies. They can join in if they want or patch you up afterwards, since I’ll try not to kill you. Talk to the halfling with the green hat at the corner of the Changeling’s Kiss in Firelight at 8 pm on the 5th, and he’ll show you where it is. They’ll be saving a place for us. If you’ve got the balls, that is.” It is signed HB.
The Angels presume that it is from Halak Boromar, the ‘security chief’ they met at the Boromar residence. Fett says that the Burning Ring is a place that offers gladiatorial combat, featuring amateur and professional warriors and, much more rarely, monsters. It has no fixed location shifting from place to place in the districts of Firelight or Torchfire in Lower Menthis. The Watch has tried to shut it down, but it always finds somewhere else to function. Fett’s description reminds the Angels that when Balan had offered them some jobs to shave time off Nameless’ time in custody, one offer was to help crack down on gladiatorial combat in Sharn.
Looking at the rest of the group, Gareth comments, “For the record, that is not a worthy quest for us. If, on the other hand, we want to speak with Balan to arrange some form of sting operation, I would be more than happy to participate. Fighting Halak, who seems to be a petulant guard – I think not. Actually, at the very least, we can let Balan know about this event.”
Evidently, it is a time for messages, since three more arrive the next day. Or two, to be precise, since one is a copy of the Korranberg Chronicle, with the first story about the Guardian Angels’ adventures. This one details the trip to Xen’drik and the travel to the island. It is fairly well written and has effectively no embellishment.
The first of the other two messages, borne by an Orien courier, is a sealed package. Within is an ornate letter, which invites the Guardian Angels to the Tain Gala in Skyway, the part of the city that floats above the highest towers, on the 6th. It provides directions to the Tain mansion there.
Gareth immediately recognizes this as the huge monthly fest he has heard of, where the Sixty Families of Sharn are perpetually invited. When Fett, who is going out the door on some work, hears about the invitation, he laughs and says, “Oh boy – this means you’ve really arrived in high society! My group went there once, and I think it’s safe to say that it scared the heck out of some of us as much as our worst battle. But I had a great time. I’ll tell you about it when I get back.”
Gareth grumbles, “All this pomp and dance takes away from more solid goals. I take it we need to go to this one. At some point we have to stop taking invitations.” He makes a mental note to invite Lalia, and says, “I will bring Lalia. Korm, if you don’t mind getting dressed up, I might be able to get you a date.” Gareth smiles. “You may need to shave though.”
“What?!”
After being reassured that Gareth is joking, Korm agrees to the idea. When Gareth broaches it to Lalia later, so does she, saying Tasra will be happy to go with Korm.
Later, another messenger stops by, this one a more familiar – and less welcome – one. It is Killian’s messenger Flan. He greets the Angels cheerfully, compliments them on their recent fame, and says he has a short message from Killian, namely, “I have some information about your ‘short friends.’ If you’re interested, stop by the Lucky Nines and say ‘hello.’”
Gareth says simply, “We will stop by there at the usual time to hear his information,” and leaves it at that.
Meanwhile, when he has a chance, Fett also talks to Six privately about a couple of the things the warforged had asked him to do. “I personally delivered the sculpture to the Boromar estate,” he says, “And I received a note for you from them yesterday, delivered by Orien courier.”
Opening the note, Six finds it to say, “Thank you for your kind gesture. As you can expect, my father was highly offended by your companion’s comments, but I have calmed him down and you should not fear any repercussions from his end. While I do not expect to see your group working for him, I am sure we can coexist peacefully if we do ever happen to interact. If I can ever be of aid to you in some way, please let me know. Ilyra Boromar.”
Fett also says that he has arranged a meeting with the Tyrants, for a couple of days later. It is at an inn called Velvet’s in the Dragoneyes red light district of Lower Tavick’s, which is the base of operations for the Tyrants, he says. “I will have to go along with you,” says Fett. After a slight hesitation, he adds, “I hope that you aren’t going to have me do too many things that you will want me to keep from the others, since that might lead to trouble. I can especially see Gareth taking it badly.” He grins and adds, “Though he’s not going to be reading my mind again any time soon,” and indicates a ring on his left hand. “I had been planning to pick up a ring of mind shielding for a while, so I finally did. I’m sure he doesn’t see how invasive it is, but I have some issues being around a person who can know what I’m thinking.”
Six says dismissively, “Eh – don’t worry so much about the secrecy. We will be driven out of Sharn soon, rendering this moot. By the way, how much are those rings of mind shielding?”
Fett laughs. “At least you’re confident. And the rings generally go for about eight thousand galifars or so. It’s not exactly an unpopular magic item about changelings, though few can afford one.”
“All right. Oh, one more thing – make an escape route from some common area of Sharn to the outskirts. Don’t tell me or anyone else about the details. Just let me know when it is set up.”
Fett looks pensive. “Hmmm – that’s difficult, because of the way the city is built. Still, I’ll try to think of something.”
He also has some information about the Cogs for Six. He explains that the Cogs are really the industrial base of Sharn, where the forges and foundries lie. Most people don’t live in the Cogs, usually traveling there to work and leaving again. The majority of the large businesses are owned by the nobles and merchant princes of the Upper City. Nolan Toranak, the dwarven council representative from the Cogs, mainly represents the wishes of these rich owners. He’s also well-known for disliking warforged, having lost his children to them during the War.
A fairly constant population of the Cogs are the warforged workers. Some of them congregate at the Red Hammer Inn, whose owners Blue and Crucible are two of the more prominent leaders, as is the warforged priest Smith (who tends a shrine to Onatar, god of Artifice and the Forge, called the Pool of Onatar’s Tears in Blackbones). Fett suggests that if he wants to know about the warforged situation and the Cogs in general, he talk to them. Fett has met them, since the Blades of Arakhain worked with Smith in helping Merrix d’Cannith enact the proposal to the warforged and persuade the City Council to let it pass. Six won’t need to set up a meeting, but should just visit, since Smith is usually at his shrine and the other pair are often at the inn.
He continues, to say that neither Boromar nor Daask have any real influence in the Cogs, or at least the two industrial Cogs. That is not true of Khyber’s Gate, which is the central Cogs area, where all the criminals and fugitives in the undercity congregate. There is no central authority there, but Daask is the most powerful force, and that is where they are based.
Fett says that Daask has apparently just put out the word that they’ve rendered the Guardian Angels a non-threat to their operations, and they seem to be stepping up local recruitment. There has been no recent mention of the Angels by the Boromars, but then again, the dinner at their estate occurred only a few days ago.
Six notes the information, trying to decide how to make use of it. Over the next couple of days, he visits a number of people and places around the city, sometimes with others and sometimes alone. Much of the time, his aim is to find out about the harness from the island, which is now firmly attached to him. Even though it provides significant protection to him, Six is somewhat worried about whether it has any connection to the binding magic, like that with the Shard, which has plagued the Angels in various ways. Unsure whether elemental binding has any connections to such binding, he spends a lot of time researching it.
Six’s first stop is Morgrave University’s library, where he mostly just finds more detailed information about elemental binding to much what he knows. It says that the gnomes of Zilargo have always controlled the information about elemental binding, and it’s their biggest economic secret. Though they work with Houses Cannith, Lyrandar and Orient on many elemental-bound devices and transportation vessels, they do not share the information about binding with the dragonmarked houses. The binding of the rakshasa rajahs at the end of the Age of Demons or of the daelkyr into Khyber by the Gatekeepers really has no relationship at all to elemental binding, sharing a word but not much else.
During one of the visits to Morgrave University, Six also speaks to Flamewind. He tells her everything about the prophecy and the rakshasas, and asks her about the harness. The gynosphinx is fascinated by the story, but especially in the fact that one had managed to get her (and apparently Sora Teraza) to have a fake prophecy. She says she has no idea how that could be done, and thinks it’s likely to have occurred through some specific item the rakshasa had, rather than through a spell. Flamewind also has no idea about the harness, never having seen one like it before, but she does admit that she isn’t particularly knowledgeable about magical items, but simply picks up things about them via her visions.
She also uses a legend lore (which all gynosphinxes can) and an analyze dweomer (unique to her) on the harness. The former reveals nothing about the harness, which is evidently not important enough, but the latter says what Six already knows, that it is a kind of item that attaches itself to and grows with its owner. There is no aspect of binding that she detects, however.
Six also visits the old kalashtar Havakhad, whom he finds at the Shrine of Il-Yannah, as always. Havakhad, however, is quite ill, due simply to old age. He says that the Sharn kalashtar have had nothing major occur with the quori over the intervening months. His divinations reveal that they had some plan after his – hoped for – death at the hands of the Angels, but they have shelved it for now and are simply waiting for him to die naturally. Time, after all, isn’t a big concern for them. As for the harness, he knows nothing about it.
Six also gets to take part in what is becoming a regular habit for him, i.e. an argument with Gareth. This time, however, he is mainly a bystander, since the argument is between Gareth and his new sword. When the Eternal Blade is speaking to Six about all the biological things Six is curious about, Gareth silences it, saying that this discussion is inappropriate. Or at least, he tries to.
“Oh, come on, Gareth! Okay, fine!” says the sword. Then it says, “Hey, metal man! Yeah, you – Six. Want to take a walk?”
“I’m not just handing you over to Six,” says Gareth indignantly. The sword chuckles, “Try stopping me!” and promptly begins to alternately expand and contract into various weapons, while singing really crude songs loudly.
Irritated, Gareth grabs the sword and opens his magical haversack, saying, “That will keep him quiet.”
“Hey!” yells the sword, as Gareth is trying to do so. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Or not if you’re expecting to ever be able to use me again.”
“Why won’t I be able to use you again?” asks Gareth.
This time, the sword’s tone isn’t at all jocular. “Because I won’t allow you to. Let’s understand something here, Gareth - this is a partnership. You wield me because I let you, and I am used by you because you choose to do so.”
“Remember, I’m not just a piece of metal like Six’s chain or Korm’s sword. I’m sentient. And while I don’t react to things exactly the way you do, there are some similarities. How would you like it if someone stuck you inside a bag, with no light, no sound, and nothing to do but wait till you were pulled out?”
“I’m not asking you to appreciate my opinion or sense of humor. Flame knows I don’t exactly appreciate yours. Or rather, I think it was removed when you were a child. But that’s not my problem. All I need to know is that you’ll do the right thing when we’re in a fight, and the rest of the time, you can do whatever the bloody hell you choose. And I expect you to treat me the same way.”
“And since you don’t need me right now, take me out of the scabbard and give me to Six. And don’t ever – ever - put me in a bloody extradimensional space without asking me about it. Or you’ll never use me again. Or not without way more ass kissing than I think you might like.”
Acting as stern as possible, but trying to be as diplomatic as he can, Gareth says, “Fair enough. I will not place you in a bag and I did not realize your point of view, but I need you by my side. I cannot walk around weaponless, for I do not know when I will get attacked – or have you not noticed in your short time here that I am not the most liked person by the Sharn underworld?”
“Really?” says the sword, in a sarcastic tone. “I am shocked. Completely shocked.”
Gareth ignores the comment and continues, “I will give you a compromise – you behave yourself in other company, meaning those not of this group, and you stop trying to trollop off and I will take you to the library and where you would like to go. This is obviously based on time permissions. I do spend quite a bit of time in the library studying. Do we have an agreement?” After a second, he adds with a grin, “Oh, one more thing – I realize you can see your surroundings but how did you plan on turning the pages in the book?”
“That’s why I’d be going there with Six, genius!” says the sword, before adding, “And we don’t have an agreement yet,” though its tone is a lot friendlier. “Like I said, you don’t have to use me and I don’t have to have you as a wielder. This is just something which is convenient for us both. Part of that means you don’t own me. Sometimes, I might want to spend some time around someone else, and I’ll expect you to respect it, just like I’ll respect it when you need my services.”
“And you don’t need me when you’re sitting around at home, and you really, really need to have some kinda other weapon! I mean, come on!” It chuckles and adds, “I appreciate you being so attached to me and all, but we just met. It’s way too early for a commitment!”
“I’ll hang around with you right now, but when you’re going to bed, hand me over to Six. Hey, Six!” The sword is clearly addressing Six now. “You said you don’t sleep, right? Cool! Me neither. We’ll chat then.” Its attention switches back to Gareth. “See - he doesn’t sleep either, so we can keep each other entertained while you’re snoring. Perfect.”
Getting quite annoyed with the sword, Gareth snaps, “A two way street, yes, but you are demanding a bit much – and you are not in the best of positions to make demands from me. Trust me, there is a nice vault the Silver Flame would love to keep you in and the only thing preventing that is me using you to fell the evil in this world. That is not a threat of punishment from me, but that is what the Silver Flame is likely to do. They would rather keep you safe in a vault than have you out there being used.”
The sword sniffs dismissively. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Go talk to your lady friend at the Cathedral about it.”
Gareth continues, “If you want to speak with Six while I am sleeping, fine, but when I am awake or we are on a quest you are at my side. My schedule, as the rest, fluctuates and I will not sit and wait for you to get back. As for multiple swords, I carry one.” Thinking for a moment, he adds, “By the way, there is another reason you need to remain with me at an almost consistent basis – you have been attuned to me. You have some extra abilities imbued in you – these abilities will grow in power as I grow in power.”
“Huh!” says the sword, “Or maybe you grow in power as I grow in power. It’s been 500 years for me, you know. It’ll take a while for me to get back in form, so maybe you’re just leeching off me.”
Six, who has been finding the argument quite amusing, leans over to Gareth. “You do realize EB here is a being, not an object, right? One of the many implications is that it may be no more ‘attuneable’ to you than Nameless is. You need to check out your assumptions.” Six thinks about his recent research into binding magic, but doesn’t mention it.
“Yeah, Six - you tell him!” says the Endless Blade. There’s a slight pause and then the sword says, “Okay, okay - so I’m attuneable. But that doesn’t mean you get to tell me what to do.”
Gareth ignores it and gives Six a dirty look, before hefting the sword and activating the flaming ability he can imbue it with. “I am pretty sure my assumptions are correct. So please stop questioning me at every angle unless you can offer expert advice.”
Six shrugs. “Other than the first time you lost your sword, I don’t question you. I just point out what is in front of you. I’m just a simple scout.”
“Well, I am glad you have a lot of humility,” says Gareth, “But you have questioned me at many points. You have a habit of doing that when it comes to me and with topics which you have no expertise or experience in.”
“Hey!” interrupts the sword indignantly. “You play nice with Six. I’m beginning to like his shiny metal ass!”
And the flaming ability promptly shuts off.
Surprised, Gareth looks at the sword and then back at Six, before explaining, “I was simply proving my point about having attuned you to me. I didn’t mean any harm.” A little sourly, he adds, “Even though you seem to be arguing with me about everything nowadays, Six.”
Six holds his peace and Gareth continues, “As I said, I have no problem with the two of you talking while I’m sleeping. I just don’t want you to leave the house during that time. If something happens to you, I won’t have the Blade to go after you, and if something happens here before you return, I’ll need him too. Is that okay?”
The Blade says, “Okay, fine – but you better take me to the library tomorrow.” Six agrees too, and Gareth hands the sword over before going to bed.
While he sleeps, the sword and Six spend hours sitting and talking, most of it spent with Six answering the Blade’s questions about Khorvaire’s current situation and giving him a detailed coverage of the Angels’ activities and the people they have met.
The Blade listens with interest and amusement. When Six is done, it says sympathetically, “Oh yeah – sounds like you goons are going to get
ed!”Six thinks about it and sadly has to agree that it seems very likely.
GoodKingJayIII said:=
3. A general question for both you, Shil, and the players: everyone seems content right now to offer services to various contacts throughout the city. Being the most powerful characters in Sharn, does anyone have Bigger Plans (tm)? Maybe Gareth wants a more powerful political position in the Church? Nameless looking for more respect from the Guild? Maybe Six will use his newfound citizenship and artistic clout to mingle with muckity-mucks and garner himself a powerful bureaucratic position? Basically, what are the PCs Big Plans? We don't hear about them as much as I'd like.
Gareth's plans:
Regain paladinhood
Marry Lalia
Cleanse the Silver Flame of all bad apples
Rid the world of evil
(my plans for Gareth) Become a god
GoodKingJayIII said:Yup. I remember all that.
If being connected to the shard had given us some benefits, we might have looked at things differently, but basically it was all liabilities and essentially no benefits. Nor were any benefits mentioned to us by the Gatekeepers. So we kind of assumed that "permanent guardians" meant sitting around in the swamp never doing anything, except looking after the dammed shard. Also by the time we got to the gatekeepers I at least was tired of lugging around a potential holocaust.
GoodKingJayIII said:
We wish that were the case, we got our asses kicked around a lot less when we were 4th level.
GoodKingJayIII said:
I at least am looking at the current period as the "calm" before the storm. I have faith in our ability to get into trouble and so far we're doing quite well on that score. Let's just say the Boromar's are unlikely to be very pleased with how that whole duel thing Halak Boromar challenged us to worked out...
You always did think small...AviLazar said:
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